


Lessons in Black Family Values

by scarletladyy



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-22
Updated: 2010-01-22
Packaged: 2017-10-06 21:51:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletladyy/pseuds/scarletladyy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Narcissa's mother asks her to keep an eye out for Sirius, she ends up giving him lessons on how to be a respectable member of the Black family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lessons in Black Family Values

"You're a disgrace," Narcissa hissed to her cousin, Sirius Black. It was the first time she'd seen him since he'd been housed in Gryffindor, and she was more than angry. How their family was going to take it was beyond her.

Sirius merely laughed in her face - he didn't give a care in the world. This new gang he seemed to have picked up looked like trouble as far as she could see, far too mischievous. Already they'd managed to anger Professor McGonagall with some toy aeroplane.

"Honestly! What will your mother say?" she asked him out in the hall, his friends calling him over from the side.

"Oh, leave him alone, Cissy," Andromea sighed, stood standing next to her sister with her arms folded.

Narcissa turned to her sister in shock. "You don't care that he's defied generations of the Black family being in Slytherin?"

"I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose," Andromeda tried to reason with her sister.

"I wouldn't put it past you," Naricssa had her eyes narrowed and turned her head towards her cousin, but he was now nowhere in sight. During her talk with her sister, he had scuttled off with his new friends. Nothing made her blood boil like he did, especially since her aunt wanted her to keep an eye on him. He was just so...irresponsible, but then again, he was a child. "Ugh."

"Leave him be." Andromeda said in almost a whisper. It looked as though she was looking for someone, as she wasn't paying much attention to their conversation.

"Andromeda!" Narcissa snapped, clicking her fingers in front of her sister's face to get her to pay attention. "I don't see why _I_ have the responsibility of looking after him anyway. You're older, and you're closer to him."

Andromeda stared her sister straight in the eyes. "That's exactly why Aunt Walburga wants you to keep a lookout. She doesn't trust me to tell her anything."

"That doesn't mean I should get the burden of him," grumbled Narcissa, but found she was talking to herself as her sister had wandered off.

A shadow appeared in front of her, and she looked up to see Lucius Malfoy, one of her oldest and best friends.

"First sign of madness you know, Cissy," he stated, loosening his tie.

Narcissa looked puzzled. "Huh?"

"You were talking to yourself."

She smiled. "Yeah, sorry." Narcissa was sure Lucius had to be used to this by now, it seemed to always happen to her. "I was talking to Andromeda."

"I believe you, Cissy," Lucius said, raising his eyebrows. "Thousands wouldn't."

"Give over!" Narcissa playfully hit him over the shoulder. "Look, I have to keep an eye on Sirius this year. Don't suppose you'll...?"

"Help you?" He finished the sentence. "Can't."

"Oh, why not?" Narcissa pleaded. She needed some help, and Andromeda certainly didn't seem to want anything to do with the matter in hand. Honestly, she was starting to wonder what family and friends she had left. "I think I'll go insane if I have to..."

"I have other business to attend to." Lucius' voice echoed down the corridor as he walked off.

She stared at his back angrily, watching him walk away. By now, she was the only one left in the hallway and it wouldn't be long before her Head of House, Horace Slughorn, would come looking for her. Rolling her eyes, she made her way to the Slytherin Common Room, but was startled by a noise outside the Transfiguration classroom.

"What is going on in here?" Narcissa asked in the haughtiest voice she could manage, hands on her hips. By no means was she a prefect, but she did love bossing younger students about. Before any of them answered, she looked at their faces and recognised Sirius. "Sirius!"

"Yes, 'cus?" Sirius snickered, tossing sweets between his friends.

"Get to your house this instant!" She demanded, but they simply wouldn't budge. This year would prove to be more challenging than any other, it would seem.

"We're all right here, thanks," said Sirius, not looking at his cousin.

Narcissa bit her lip before speaking. "Your mother asked me to keep an eye on you, and that I will certainly do."

"Ooh! Does your mummy spy on you, Sirius?" The black haired boy taunted her cousin, laughing and punching him, albeit playfully.

Fuming, Narcissa walked straight up to her cousin, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and marched him right out of the classroom. "Don't you dare refuse to do what I say - especially in public - ever again!"

"Get off me," he moaned, struggling, finally managing to set himself free round the next corner. "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to exactly where you should be - your common room, and if your _friends_ have any sense, they'll follow." Not wanting to miss a trick, Narcissa walked slightly behind Sirius, keeping an eye on him.

"I can't believe you just did that," he muttered, his face still red from the shame. "I hate you! Why can't you be more like Andromeda?"

Narcissa scoffed. "I'll be a lot worse in future if you don't keep your head in your books and your hands away from trouble." Arriving at the Gryffindor portrait, she pushed him towards it and turned on her heels. If he didn't pay attention to the password earlier, it would serve him right to have to sleep in the corridor.

OOO

Two months later, Narcissa was surprised she had any hair left - Sirius got into trouble so much she was always tearing her hair out, or at least, that's what it felt like. Constantly she was running after him, picking up the pieces and apologising to teachers. Andromeda and Lucius were no help; they were both busy with other things that they didn't care to share with her.

Sirius' latest troublemaking activity was putting stinkbombs outside the Slytherin's common room, which Narcissa saw as a very personal attack. It still really irked her that he wasn't like the rest of them, in Slytherin, and that he was a Gryffindor, with Gryffindor friends and apparently Gryffindor traits.

That Howler Sirius got the morning after his sorting was Aunt Walburga's anger it, and the fact that he just laughed it off, cool as pie, was what annoyed Narcissa the most. She thought he should care about their family values and what it meant to them, but he just wanted to have fun with his friends. _Well_, she thought, _he isn't any ordinary child. He's part of the Black family, and that comes with responsibilities._

Thanks to Narcissa's genius, or so she thought herself, she had thought of a plan to please them all - training Sirius to be the perfect Black family member. It would get her mother off her back, Aunt Walburga's off Sirius', and his friends would never have to know if he kept his mouth shut.

Unfortunately, she had thought of this plan quite late at night, but knowing Sirius, he wouldn't be comfortably tucked up in bed. For some reason, he and his Gryffindor friends had an attachment to hanging outside at night - always in the same place.

Often, when she couldn't sleep, she would take a walk around the grounds and on several occasions had come across them. True to form, Narcissa found them there and dragged Sirius away, to the insults of his friend.

"What do you want?" he said grumpily, wrestling his arm out of her grasp.

"I have an idea." Narcissa wasn't quite sure how she was going to put this to her cousin to make him agree to it.

"Great," he sighed, falling lazily to the ground and looking up at her.

"It'll get your mother off your back." When she got Sirius' attention, she knew this would be a perfect starting point. "Why don't I just give you lessons on how to be a good Black family member?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Are you kidding?"

"Nope," said Narcissa, shaking her head. "You've already tainted the family by becoming a Gryffindor - the least you can do is try and make the best of it. Besides, you're proud to be a Black, aren't you?"

A laugh escaped the young boy's lips. "No!"

Ignoring this comment, Narcissa carried on putting her idea forward. "Look, you don't have to tell your friends if you don't want to."

"But -"

Narcissa grabbed Sirius' hair roughly. She was rapidly losing her patience. "You're doing it, end of. Tomorrow at nine, in McGonagall's room." She didn't wait for an answer as she stormed off back to bed, her mind filled with ideas of what she could possibly teach him, and how excited she would be when she received praise from her family.

When she finally reached her dorm and crept into bed, she found she couldn't sleep. Casting a silencing charm around her bed, she grabbed her quill and parchment from her bedside table and started to write to her mother, asking her to pass on the message to Aunt Walburga. After a trip to the Owlery, she felt she was finally ready to drift off.

OOO

_Where is he_, Narcissa thought angrily. It was ten minutes past nine and if he wasn't here soon she would go and get him herself, she wasn't going to wait ages for him to turn up whenever he felt like it.

Just as she had grabbed her bag to leave, Sirius walked casually through the classroom door, shutting it quietly behind him. "About time," Narcissa muttered, starting to cast silencing spells and other such charms around the room. She knew the last thing they wanted was to be found out - they were supposed to be in their common rooms.

"So how long is this going to take, anyway?" Sirius was leaning against one of the desks, his feet crossed over each other. "Because me and James were going to block the girl's loo's..."

"That," Narcissa picked up on straight away as she sat on McGonagall's desk. "Is exactly what I want you to stop. Right now."

Sirius shook his head wildly. "No can do."

"If you _have_ to create mischief, do it without being a caught." Narcissa gave him the evil eye. She could educate him on their values until she was blue in the face, but she very much doubted she would be able to get him to stop playing the prankster. "Of course, we will start with the basics. You must know that our family is one of the largest and oldest pureblood families, right?"

Sirius nodded, but rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know."

"That makes us..."

"...practically royal, yes, mother has mentioned it."

Narcissa smiled to herself, her Aunt Walburga had certainly tried to instil pureblood and family pride into the boy. "Good. Oh, and if you and your brother have no children, we'll die out through the male line."

This appeared to cheer Sirius up, by the smile on his face and renewed interest. "Sounds like a plan."

"Don't be silly," said Narcissa, narrowing her eyes at her cousin. "Tell me what our motto is."

"Er..." Sirius scratched his head and moved his mouth around in confusion. "No?"

"_Toujours pur_!" Narcissa snapped at his ignorance, and since he still seemingly had no idea what that meant, she carried on. "It's French. It' means _always pure_."

"Oh." Sirius remarked, going back to not caring anymore.

"To be part of our family you must recognise that we are pure, that we are pretty much wizarding royalty, Sirius. Don't you take pride in this? Don't you think it's a wonderful thing?" Narcissa looked him up and down. "I'm sure if you smartened yourself up the pureblood girls would lap you up. You may be a Gryffindor, but you will forever have the name Black."

"Not if I change it, I won't," he muttered under his breath.

This shocked Narcissa; she had no idea why anyone would want to renounce such a well respected name. After all, she knew Slytherins who would kill to be Blacks. "You mustn't think such a thing, Sirius."

A long sigh escaped from his mouth. "Can I go now? It's been fifteen minutes."

Narcissa hadn't wanted to finish so early, but he was so eager to move on and get back to his friends. She knew anything she said would go in one ear and out the other. "Fine," she said, stuffing her notes into her pocket. "Same time next week. And don't you dare forget what I told you!"

Sirius fled, leaving Narcissa to straighten up the room. His leaning on the desks had caused them to move backwards, and she still had to undo all of the charms she had put up earlier. _Next week_, she thought, _I'll tell him about members of our family. Try and inspire him_.

OOO

The week went by without Narcissa hearing a word of Sirius getting into trouble, and she wasn't the only one who had noticed.

"You've done well," commented Andromeda at the dining table that evening.

"Thank you." Narcissa smiled as she tucked into her pumpking soup, watching Sirius from across the hall. He was greedily shoving bread rolls into his mouth, and she had to roll her eyes, reminding herself to teach him of etiquette further down the line.

"What did you do?" Andromeda asked, curiously. "I've seen you get many letters from mother and Aunt Walburga."

"It is none of your business - you refused to help, after all." Narcissa knew that if she was going to make a success of this, she was going to do it alone. They had all said no to helping her earlier, so she saw no reason to give them a chance now.

Whilst talking to her sister, she caught Sirius' eye and nodded at him, reminding him of their meeting. They hadn't spoken all week, but Aunt Walburga said in her letters that he constantly praised her. Whether this was true or not was an entirely different matter, and she highly suspected it wasn't.

As far as she knew, only her mother, Aunt Walburga, Sirius and herself knew about the arrangement to turn Sirius into a respectable Black family member, and she hoped to keep it that way. The more people that got involved, the messier it would be, and opinions would be sprouting all over the place.

Druella had said she was so very proud of Narcissa, and though she hated to admit it, she lived for the approval of her parents. She respected them for who they were and what they had done, and most importantly, keeping the family line pruned and clean.

Narcissa was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed it was only her, Andromeda and a few Ravenclaw students left in the Great Hall. "I've got to go," she said hastily, leaving the table and quickly making her way to the common room to grab her notes. Ideally she wanted to be there before Sirius was, because she knew he'd mock her if she wasn't.

Narcissa was two minutes early to their lesson, and there was no Sirius in sight. Rolling her eyes, she made herself comfortable in the chair behind McGonagall's desk and put her feet up. She had thought Sirius would be ages yet, but just as she was closing her eyes, he appeared, running through the door like a wild banshee. "Hmm," Narcissa eyed him carefully as she got up to cast the charms upon the room. "Is it true, that you continuously praise me to your mother?"

Sirius shrugged. "Sure."

"Well," Narcissa knew it would only be polite to thank him for it. "Thank you. Now," she started, moving quickly on. "Do you remember what we're doing this week?"

"No," he sighed, relaxing into a chair opposite her.

"What a surprise," she muttered under her breath, before carrying on. "Now, I'm going to start with an easy one. Who is Phineas Nigellus?"

"My great-great-grandfather." Sirius looked at the floor before adding. "And the least-popular Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had."

Narcissa growled. "You're supposed to be taking this seriously."

"I am!" Sirius protested. "I just don't like the sound of him."

"Don't be silly. You'd never even met him," Narcissa remarked, her lips pursed.

"Neither did you."

"That is not the point. Besides, these lessons are for your benefit, not mine." Narcissa tucked the parchment with Phineas' details on under all the others, deciding to move on before they got into a heated debate. "And you've heard of Cygnus and -"

"He's my uncle," Sirius said proudly, a massive grin plastered across his face.

Narcissa sighed. "I'm not talking about my father, I'm talking about Cygnus and Violetta. He died in 1943 -"

"So how would I have a clue who he was then?" Sirius looked dumbfounded.

"You knew who Phineas Nigellus was."

"Only because mother kept mentioning him when I was younger," he seemed to say with a bone of contention, as though those conversations bored him to death.

Narcissa didn't think this was getting them anywhere. "Look, our family is made up of noble and great people - Phineas was Hogwarts' Headmaster! Don't you see what that means?"

Sirius shook his head, shrugging. "I don't particularly care, either."

"I guess this lesson was a waste then," Narcissa sighed. "But go away with this thought and keep it in your memory: we are practically royalty, dear cousin. Cherish that."

"Whatever," Sirius shouted as he ran out of the room as fast as he could, and Narcissa cursed herself for another, as she saw it, failed lesson.

Gathering her bags and hoping next time, on etiquette, would go better, she left the classroom, undoing her spells as she went.

"Cissy!"

Narcissa looked up to see Andromeda as she was shutting the door behind her. "Evening," she smiled at her sister. "What brings you round here?"

"I was just meeting someone." Andromeda looked very shifty, shuffling her feet about in an awkward manner and avoiding direct eye contact.

"Oh." Narcissa was curious. The last two years or so Andromeda had been wandering Hogwarts' walls quietly, never mentioning who or what she was going to see. "Who?"

"Nobody," Andromeda shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Anyway, I just saw Sirius running out of here - what were you doing?"

"That is of no concern of yours, sister." Even if Narcissa would have told her earlier, she definitely wouldn't now. She hated the thought that her sister was meeting someone she didn't know about. It put her on edge. "Are you going to the common room?"

Andromeda nodded, and the two of them headed back to Slytherin territory. Narcissa didn't want to say anything, afraid to incriminate herself, but she really wanted to find out who Andromeda was meeting. Wanting to stop the awkward silence, she mentioned the first thing that came into her head. "I suppose we'll be seeing Sirius and family at Christmas."

"Er, yeah," remarked Andromeda, staring off into the distance.

"It's not long now. Only a month." Narcissa had wanted her and Sirius' lessons to stop by Christmas, so she could go home and her mother and Aunt Walburga would be proud of her. She knew she didn't have much left that she could teach him, but she thought it was vital that he carried on attending, and she was determined to finish by then.

"Mother speaks very highly of you in her letters," said Andromeda, turning her attentions back to Narcissa.

"She does?" Narcissa couldn't help but smile inside; always had she wanted the respect of her mother, and this project with Sirius was working out so well that this was exactly what she was getting.

"Mhm," Andromeda nodded as they reached the portrait. "I'm off to bed now, though. I'm shattered."

"Night," Narcissa called after her as she made herself comfortable on the sofa in front of her fire. It had been a long day and all she wanted to do was relax.

It was then that a tall, blond figure rose to stand in front of her. "A game of chess, Cissy?" Lucius Malfoy asked, pulling a chair up to the sofa.

"I suppose," she sighed. She never had been able to pass up a game.

"Tell me what it is you're up to," Lucius said as he toyed with the pieces, making his first move.

"Will you tell me what _you're_ up to?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "I'm not stupid, Lucius. I know you're up to something."

Lucius looked both ways before speaking quietly in a hushed tone of voice. "Dark forces are dawning, Cissy, and I want to be in the thick of it. There are rumours, but I'm trying to find out more."

"You make it sound so horrible!" she gasped, moving one of her pawns to take Lucius'.

A smirk broke across his face. "I suppose it will turn out to be in the end. Now." He apparently hadn't forgotten about her sneaking around. "What are _you_ up to? Andromeda says you've been sneaking around in classrooms with that cousin of yours."

"I have," she whispered, grumbling as Lucius took a piece. "I've been teaching him how to be a proper Black family member. He's disgraced us being in Gryffindor!" she said defensively.

"I can see why."

"Mother's pleased, and Aunt Walburga is too, so it's going well. I haven't had complaints off teachers either, so he's probably stopped making mischief," Lucius snorted at this, "or he's hiding it well."

"It's the latter." Lucius said as he checkmated Narcissa.

"How do you know?" she said with anger in her voice, at both Lucius' apparent arrogance and her losing the game.

"I saw him with those friends of his the other day. They were casting jinxes on that greasy haired boy." Upon Narcissa's confused look, Lucius continued. "The one in our house. Snape, I think he's called."

"Oh," she whispered. Although she knew deep down he hadn't stopped, it still upset her a bit.

Lucius placed his arm gently on her hand. "Don't worry. He hasn't been caught."

"Yet." Narcissa sighed. "I'm off to bed. Night, Lucius. And don't you get into too much trouble, mind."

He smiled weakly at her. "Goodnight, Cissy."

OOO

"You're late," Narcissa frowned at Sirius as he casually strolled into the room, fifteen minutes after expected.

"I was busy," he said as he finished off a jam roll, making himself comfortably opposite her.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Narcissa said haughtily. "It's disgusting. It won't do for Black's to be seen so low."

Sirius scoffed down the rest of his roll before eating again. "Fine." He put his feet up on the desk in front of him. "Anything else?"

"Yes." Although Sirius was taking these lessons more seriously than before, he still had a long way to go. "Take your feet down."

"Why?"

"It's rude, that's why." Narcissa looked at the list of etiquette rules she had on her parchment. "Never show vulnerability, that's key. Especially to those Gryffindor friends of yours. In fact, I have an idea," she started tapping her quill against the parchment. "Why don't you make friends with some Slytherin boys?"

"I hate Slytherins," he said nastily, his arms folded.

"You shouldn't. Our whole family has been in Slytherin until _you_ came along."

Sirius plastered a grin across his face. "Well I'm glad to be unique."

"If you have to be in Gryffindor you could at least try your best to make the most of a bad situation. Presentation is everything," Narcissa suddenly noticed his buttons were half undone and his tie was loose. "And that goes for appearance too. Sort it out." She watched carefully as he corrected his uniform, though she had a suspicion that he would simply revert back as soon as he left. "I also want you to pay more attention in class. Get your marks up."

"Bellatrix never did," he muttered under his breath.

Narcissa's eyes widened, she hated it when people bladmouthed her sister. "Don't talk about her like that."

"Everyone says she's loopy," Sirius nodded at Narcissa. "James says she's insane."

"Well, James is wrong!" Narcissa slammed her parchment down on the table and pursed her lips, growling at him.

"All right," he looked at her with a worried expression on his face. "Calm down."

Narcissa was furious at the callous way he'd talked about her sister, and it made her even angrier that his friends had spoken about her. If they were talking about Bellatrix like that, maybe they were talking about her or Andromeda too. True to her word, Narcissa did carry on the lesson on etiquette, but it was brief. She quickly ran through how his uniform should be, that his hair shouldn't get too long and how to eat in public. He seemed to have such problems with the cutlery that a lot of the time was spent explaining that to him.

When Sirius finally left, she breathed a sigh of relief - she couldn't wait until Christmas when this was all over; he was a handful at best. She was sure Aunt Walburga had tried with him, but as Andromeda had already said, if he wanted to think that Black family values weren't important, that was exactly what he was going to do.

OOO

"Miss Black," Professor Slughorn said as he motioned her to the chair opposite him. "It's about your cousin. This is the first time he has been in trouble in months, and while his Head of House is impressed, they are also annoyed."

Narcissa sighed, shivering as she sat in Slughorn's office days before they were leaving for Christmas. "What has he done now?"

"He cast a dancing jinx on Slytherin Severus Snape yesterday morning and then locked him in a cupboard. The poor soul wasn't found until dinnertime, by which point he was absolutely exhausted. Not to mention cold, hungry and desperate for the toilet."

"I'm sorry, Professor," Narcissa said, unsure of what else she could do. "I'll have a word with him."

"Make sure you do," Slughorn said, waving her out of his office.

Narcissa was outraged. How dare he humiliate her right before she was due to go home. Well, she'd give him something to sweat about. "Sirius!" she shouted, making her way outside. "Sirius, come out now!" She knew perfectly well he was out there somewhere, and this was proven to her as he emerged from behind a hedge.

"What?" Sirius said angrily, blushing bright red.

"I heard about what you did." Narcissa had folded her arms, her wand handily in her backpocket if he got full of it.

He stifled a life before speaking. "Oh, sorry."

"We'll see how sorry you are when your mother finds out about this," she threatened, stalking away at a fast pace.

"No! Narcissa! Don't tell her, please..." Sirius called after her, but it was no use. She wasn't turning around; he would just have to spend the last few days of school before Christmas worrying. It would serve him right, she thought.

OOO

"Find a seat and leave us alone," Narcissa said harshly at her cousin, Sirius. He was bugging her and Andromeda, worried Aunt Walburga would find out about what he did to Snape.

"Just don't tell her!" Sirius called down the corridor, as his black haired friend ran off with him.

"Honestly," Narcissa sighed as she and Andromeda found a compartment together. "I swear he gets more irritating every time I see him."

"He's kept out of trouble, though," Andromeda commented. "Well, at least with the teachers. Everyone else knows what he gets up to."

Narcissa looked out the window as the train started to move. "I can hardly tell mother and Aunt Walburga, can I?"

Andromeda shook her head. "Whatever you're doing with him, it's working a little bit. Mind, there's only so much you can teach someone."

"Teach?" Narcissa looked at her sister awkwardly, worried she'd found out what they'd been doing.

"Yes," Andromeda nodded. "If he doesn't want to be part of our family and accept our values, that's that. We can't change that."

"I have certainly tried," said Narcissa, resting her head on the window. They were finally going home for the Christmas holidays, and she knew that after all the effort she'd put in, they would be very proud of her. Not one single letter had been sent to Aunt Walburga about Sirius' bad behaviour, and Narcissa felt personally responsible for that. As she drifted off, she dreamt of a life where she wasn't constantly watching her cousin or worrying about her best friend being in danger. Alas, caring for other people was what she did best.

It only seemed as though she had been asleep for two minutes when Andromeda was hitting Narcissa furiously on the arm.

"We're here, we're here!" Andromeda shouted at her as she woke up groggily.

"Right," Narcissa mentally slapped herself and yawned, stretching her arms. As she stepped off the train, she saw her mother beaming at her. This was unusual as her mother was a very conservative woman; displaying affection was not one of her strong points.

"Narcissa," Druella kindly kissed her daughter on the cheek. "And Andromeda."

"Merry Christmas, mother," Andromeda muttered.

Druella nodded over to Sirius and her sister. "We're all going back for a drink at Aunt Walburga's. Narcissa, you can tell your news."

"Finally," Andromeda sighed. "I've wanted to know what she's been up to for ages."

Out of the corner of her eye, Narcissa saw her aunt smile warmly at her, and she couldn't help but feel loved. They arrived at Grimmauld Place via Floo powder, a choice of travel she wasn't particularly keen on, but it was better than brooms. Or those hideous things Muggles went around in; they looked very unsafe.

Upon arrival they all made their way to the living room, and she sat on the sofa next to Sirius. He had his arms folded and was staring into the fireplace; Narcissa knew he hated being back here. "Cheer up," she said to him, but he merely grunted at her.

"Narcissa, come here, dear," Aunt Walburga was standing in the centre of the room, her arms held widely out to her niece before turning to the family. "Narcissa is the reason Sirius has been kept out of trouble, you know."

Around the room there were murmurs and whispers of approval, various family members nodding at her. Taking her cue from her aunt, she started to tell them the story of what she had been doing with her cousin. "...so you see, it was simple really," she finished up, at last.

"Well done, dear," her father remarked, winking at her.

"Thank you, father," Naricssa said politely, sitting back down next to Sirius.

"Now," Aunt Walburga looked Sirius straight in the eye. "You better remember what Narcissa has taught you, young man. You'll go a long way with that information."

"Yes, mother," Sirius groaned, leaving the room with Narcissa in tow. "Thanks for not telling her about..."

"Keep to your part of the deal, mind, or I'll tell her every sordid detail of the last few months." Narcissa really didn't think she would. She'd lose praise within her family, but Sirius didn't know that, and she had always loved teasing him. "I'm sure Aunt Walburga will have lots of fun making you peel potatoes for the whole of next summer," she joked as he clambered up the stairs out of her way.

"Shove off, Narcissa," he said grumpily.

"Ah, ah, ah," Narcissa made hand movements, as though she was peeling potatoes herself, and received a grim look from her cousin as he fled straight to his room. Now the teaching was over, she was going to have great fun teasing him for the whole of next term.


End file.
